Bienville Parish, Louisiana
Bienville Parish ( ) is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752. The highest natural point in Louisiana, a hill known as Mt. Driskill, in elevation, is located in north central Bienville Parish. The mountain is located on private land with public access by walking trail. It is named for James Christopher Driskill, a 19th century landowner. Nearby is Jordan Mountain, with an elevation of . Lake Bistineau and Lake Bistineau State Park embrace parts of Bienville and neighboring Webster and Bossier parishes. History During the American Civil War, Bienville Parish was strongly Confederate but was spared fighting in its immediate area. Instead Bienville Parish participated in the building of fortifications on the nearby Red River. Much of this work was done by slaves hired out by planters.John D. Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963, ISBN 0-8071-0834-0, p. 164 In 1864, Governor Henry Watkins Allen named Dr. Bartholomew Egan of Bienville Parish to establish a laboratory for the manufacture of medicines. Egan bought out the former Mount Lebanon Female Academy and nearly a hundred acres of land to turn out turpentine and medicinal whisky. He also produced castor oil (The Bienville Parish community of Castor was established in 1900.) and a quantity of opium. Winters explains that the "native wild white poppy produced an opium equal in strength and effectiveness to the imported product."Winters, pp, 408-409 The notorious bandits Bonnie and Clyde were shot dead in Bienville Parish on May 23, 1934. The Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland contains memorabilia about the killing. It is operated by Ted Hinton, son of one of the officers involved in the ambush. Law, government, religion Bienville Parish is a traditional Democratic stronghold though it supported the Republican presidential nominees, Barry M. Goldwater in 1964 and Richard M. Nixon in 1972. It is one of three parishes—the others are neighboring Red River and St. Bernard near New Orleans -- to have rejected the successful GOP gubernatorial candidate, U.S. Representative Bobby Jindal in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007. However, President George W. Bush secured a close victory in the parish in 2004. He polled 3,612 votes (50 percent) to 3,399 (47 percent) for Democrat John F. Kerry. In 2008, John McCain won in Bienville Parish by a 187-vote margin over the Democrat Barack Obama, 3,776-3,589. Church and Cemetery in Bienville Parish; land for the church and cemetery was donated in the 19th century by William Thomas Corley. ]] Bienville Parish was represented in the Louisiana State Senate from 1948-1960 by a fiery segregationist and unsuccessful 1959 Democratic gubernatorial candidate William M. Rainach of neighboring Claiborne Parish. Lorris M. Wimberly, a Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, was a native and resident of Arcadia. Wimberly served in the House from 1928–1940 and again from 1948–1956; he was Speaker from 1936–1940, 1950–1952, and briefly in 1956. His father, Joseph Rush Wimberly, I, served in the legislature from 1900–1908 and was thereafter a judge. The last state representative whose district included only Bienville Parish was John Len Lacy of Castor, who served a single term from 1964–1968 and had been a member of the Bienville Parish School Board for thirty-two years. Bienville Parish has various churches, mostly of the Baptist denomination. Many are in rural areas and often have cemeteries adjacent to the sanctuaries. For instance, the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery is located south of Ringgold off Louisiana State Highway 4. The Louisiana Baptist Convention was founded in 1848 at historic Mount Lebanon Baptist Church in the community of Mount Lebanon, originally settled by pioneers from South Carolina. The First Baptist Church and the First United Methodist Church in Arcadia are particularly impressive structures for a smaller community. Geography The parish has a total area of , of which is land and (1.35%) is water. The highest natural point in Louisiana, Driskill Mountain (535 ft), is located in Bienville Parish. Driskill Mountain is south of Arcadia at Latitude 32 degree, 25 minutes North; Longitude 92 degree 54 minutes West. Loggy Bayou flows south from Lake Bistineau and traverses Bienville Parish west of Ringgold before it enters Red River Parish and thereafter joins the Red River. Major highways * Interstate 20 * U.S. Highway 80 * U.S. Highway 371 * Louisiana Highway 4 * Louisiana Highway 9 Adjacent parishes *Claiborne Parish (north) *Lincoln Parish (northeast) *Jackson Parish (east) *Winn Parish (southeast) *Natchitoches Parish (south) *Red River Parish (southwest) *Bossier Parish (west) *Webster Parish (northwest) Demographics ; Report on the Population of the United States at the Eleventh Census, 1890. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1895. }} As of the census of 2000, there were 15,752 people, 6,108 households, and 4,214 families residing in the parish. The population density was 19 people per square mile (8/km²). There were 7,830 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 54.92% White, 43.78% Black or African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.32% from other races, and 0.55% from two or more races. 0.95% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 6,108 households out of which 31.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.70% were married couples living together, 17.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.00% were non-families. 28.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.09. In the parish the population was spread out with 27.30% under the age of 18, 8.00% from 18 to 24, 24.60% from 25 to 44, 22.50% from 45 to 64, and 17.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.80 males. The median income for a household in the parish was $23,663, and the median income for a family was $30,241. Males had a median income of $28,022 versus $18,682 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $12,471. About 21.80% of families and 26.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.00% of those under age 18 and 23.20% of those age 65 or over. Communities Cities and towns Education The Bienville Parish School Board operates area public schools. Media Bienville Parish is served by the weekly ''Bienville Democrat newspaper, edited in Arcadia by Priscilla Smith. The former editor was Wayne E. Dring. Notable people *Morris N. Abrams, Louisiana educator and academic, began his teaching career in 1940 at the now defunct Friendship High School in the Friendship community in Bienville Parish. * David T. Caldwell, judge of the Second Judicial District Court, 1970–1982, based in Jonesboro, was born in Saline in 1925. * Stephen A. Caldwell, educator, principally at Louisiana State University, was born in Bienville in 1889. * Barbara Colley, romance and mystery novelist, was born in Ringgold in 1947. * Hubert N. Davis, Bienville Parish sheriff, 1952–1972 * Bill DeMott, a professional wrestler, maintains a house in Bienville Parish. * Caroline Dormon (1888–1971), a Louisiana botanist and preservationist, grew up in Bienville Parish. * Jamie Fair, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1980–1984 * Charlie Hennigan, American Football League player from the 1960s * Sue Woodard Huckaby (1943–2008), Realtor in northern Virginia, ranked tenth of 2 million in the United States. A Ringgold native, she was the first wife of former U.S. Representative Jerry Huckaby, who remarried after her death. Her father, E.S. "Scotty" Woodard (born 1921), is a Bienville Parish landowner. *Henderson Jordan (1896–1958), sheriff of Bienville Parish, 1932–1940; participated in the capture of Bonnie and Clyde on May 23, 1934; interred at Arcadia Cemetery * John Len Lacy, represented Bienville Parish in the Louisiana House from 1964-1968. * Sallie Williams Lacy, wife of Len Lacy and his successor as a member of the Bienville Parish School Board, having served from 1964–1972 *Garnie W. McGinty (1900–1984), Louisiana historian *E. R. Minchew (1908-2001), Louisana educator, born in Taylor and long-term principal of Castor High School *Danny Roy Moore (born 1925), represented Claiborne and Bienville parishes in the Louisiana Senate from 1964-1968; resides in Arcadia *Enoch T. Nix (1920-2001), banker in Bossier City; member and president of the Louisiana State Board of Education *Prentiss Oakley (1905–1957), one of six law-enforcement officials involved in the capture of Bonnie and Clyde; sheriff, 1940–1952 * E.S. Richardson, a leading Louisiana educator, was the school superintendent in Bienville Parish from 1916-1920. He left to take the superintendency in his native Webster Parish. Later, he was president of Louisiana Tech University. * Lee Smith, pitcher * Jesse N. Stone, president of the Southern University System from 1974–1985; civil rights activist * F. Jay Taylor, president of Louisiana Tech University from 1962–1987, was born in Gibsland in 1923. * Marshall H. Twitchell, Reconstruction era state senator who helped to establish Coushatta, the seat of neighboring Red River Parish * Arvis Edward Whitman (1923–1996), parish sheriff from 1972–1988 * Duvall Cortez Wimberly, a Ringgold native, was a retired educator and the president of American Ex-Prisoners of War. See also *National Register of Historic Places listings in Bienville Parish, Louisiana Left4Dead 2: This video game was set in Bienville Parish. References External links *Bienville Parish Category:Bienville Parish, Louisiana Category:Parishes of Louisiana